Is Hockey Big in the UK?

[Dorst]

The trouble with that argument is that India is HUGE, so cricket is the 2nd-biggest spectator sport in the world after football. You're just showing your Dutch bias Although the Dutch aren't bad at cricket...

Perhaps cricket was not the worst offender on the list.. let's take netball. It doesn't even have a Dutch translated page on Wikipedia haha.. we have the similar and equally obscure variant Korffball which is popular in the Netherlands.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Outside of the UK and it's former colonies no one really cares much for cricket in my experience.

Believe me "in my experience" no one inside the UK really cares about Cricket.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Perhaps cricket was not the worst offender on the list.. let's take netball. It doesn't even have a Dutch translated page on Wikipedia haha.. we have the similar and equally obscure variant Korffball which is popular in the Netherlands.

Yes netball is very much a Commonwealth thing but again - the Commonwealth is big. According to the federation, over 20 million people play netball, whereas according to Wikipedia (I know), only 90k play korfball, you can't really compare the two. There's historical prejudice against netball just because it is primarily played by women, particularly at school but that seems to be changing a bit, also it's unusual in that the top 7 teams include Jamaica, Malawi and Uganda. Perhaps Dutch Wikipedia is biased against things that are popular in Africa?

Korfball is played in the UK, it seems to be one of those cult things that gets played at universities because of the both sexes thing, but it's not big outside universities.

Rounders is perhaps a better shout, although it doesn't really compare as it's mostly played by children in the UK - but again that can make something quite big, with over a million players in a year, and 80k adult players.

Believe me "in my experience" no one inside the UK really cares about Cricket.

Cough....

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Cough....

Obviously cricket has a lot of fans but like most of the people that voted below i find it too long winded and boring.

 

[Braufather]

Putting cricket with rest of the world shows a similar bias for the British haha. Outside of the UK and it's former colonies no one really cares much for cricket in my experience.

Controversial!

 

[DavidDetroit]

I've never heard of netball, korfball or rounders before today, as far as I can remember. The basic tutorial video of netball was interesting.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Obviously cricket has a lot of fans but like most of the people that voted below i find it too long winded and boring.

That's OK, nobody's forcing you to watch it, although you might want to try T20 or the Hundred for a quicker format. Many people think homebrewing is longwinded and boring when you could just go down the supermarket for a multipack of Carling; within homebrewing many people think all-grain is longwinded and boring.

But that's OK, some people love it and good luck to them.

 

[RichardM]

I've never heard of netball, korfball or rounders before today, as far as I can remember. The basic tutorial video of netball was interesting.

What about Shinty, Hurling or Lacross?

 

[RichardM]

Belfast giants play here but I dont know anyone who watches them. I was once dragged to a game in London docklands. Not for me.

I went to an ice hockey game in Chicago with the colleague mentioned earlier in the thread. It seemed to consist of a minute or two of everyone chasing the puck and it being hard to follow what was happeninbg and then a break for the players to have a fight.

 

[DavidDetroit]

What about Shinty, Hurling or Lacross?

One out of three (Lacrosse) if it's the game with not-too-big goals, small nets on long handles and played on a field of grass . That game is popular enough here, played in high schools.

I went to an ice hockey game in Chicago with the colleague mentioned earlier in the thread. It seemed to consist of a minute or two of everyone chasing the puck and it being hard to follow what was happeninbg and then a break for the players to have a fight.

I prefer the European style of ice hockey. The fighting is stupid though it's claimed to have an important role (protect the star players and things like that).

 

[Braufather]

I went to an ice hockey game in Chicago with the colleague mentioned earlier in the thread. It seemed to consist of a minute or two of everyone chasing the puck and it being hard to follow what was happeninbg and then a break for the players to have a fight.

that was the good bits. It was the cheesy attempts to build up an atmosphere the rest of the time that put me off.

 

[moto748]

I think of lacrosse in North America as being mostly a Canadian thing; is that wrong? I imagine there's hurling in the US, with the number of Irish ex-pats. Maybe shinty not so much, although it is still popular in the Highlands.

 

[Beermonster66]

There was a younger guy worked with me until recently who played shinty. That is one rough game! He was out injured more often than not. His last injury was a broken wrist.

 

[DavidDetroit]

think of lacrosse in North America as being mostly a Canadian thing; is that wrong? I imagine there's hurling in the US,

I don't know about Canada but it's common in the US at the high school level. I've never heard of hurling until today, not that it means much, but I wouldn't guess it's very wide spread.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Many people think homebrewing is longwinded and boring when you could just go down the supermarket for a multipack of Carling;

They could also buy some really good beer as they don't just sell Carling.

 

[Brianbrewed]

Hurling can be a great game to watch.
Fastest game played on grass.

 

[TonyT]

Hockey is more popular here in the colder states which is logical. Michigan being butted up against Canada, hockey's made it's huge impact on the Detroit-Metro area. There is a very large, Redwings fan base in Windsor, Ontario, Canada due to proximity to Detroit versus Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It's like in American football, our Upper Peninsula (Michigan which has the Detroit Lions team) has plenty of Green Bay Packers fans (Green Bay, Wisconsin) because of proximity and distance from Detroit.

Anyway, do you have a lot of hockey rinks? Pro teams? Rink time is ultra-expensive here so only those with the dough really play.
Haven't been watching hockey much since it was taken off over-the-air TV. I now have cable, at least temporarily, to watch American football so I'm dipping a toe back into the sport.

Well I used to live in Canada, so I know what you mean by hockey and how big it is there, but I think that in the UK it’s much more of a minority niche sport. By comparison to Canada there are very few ice rinks this side of the pond. Here in Wales, rugby has a similar status and passion to hockey in Canada. Incidentally rugby and football (soccer) are mainly winter sports here, but a British winter is far removed from a North American winter!

 

[RichardM]

Well I used to live in Canada, so I know what you mean by hockey and how big it is there, but I think that in the UK it’s much more of a minority niche sport. By comparison to Canada there are very few ice rinks this side of the pond. Here in Wales, rugby has a similar status and passion to hockey in Canada. Incidentally rugby and football (soccer) are mainly winter sports here, but a British winter is far removed from a North American winter!

More people watch and play football in Wales than Rugby. Attendances at club matches are very poor. Internationals get big crowds of people who seem more intent on getting drunk than watching the rugby.

 

[jceg316]

I used to love hockey as a kid and teen, both ice and field and would play field hockey at school whenever I got the chance. I went to a couple of games to watch the London Knights which was good fun, but I think that team isn't around anymore. It's still quite interesting but I'm not really a sports person. I go to Toronto and New York quite a lot and would love to see a Leafs or Rangers game, but understand tickets for either are hard to come by due to price and scarcity.

 

[An Ankoù]

No idea where Hockey Big is. Who is she anyway? Is she related to Bell Hooks? Who the chough is bell hooks and why hasn't she got proper initials? bell hooks remembered: ‘She embodied everything I wanted to be’
Never heard of her.
Never heard of Hockey Big, either.